The U.S. House of Representatives decided Wednesday night to impeach President Donald Trump on the two articles brought against him.
Two Democrats voted nay on the first article—abuse of power—namely, New Jersey Rep. Jefferson Van Drew, who is poised to join the Republican Party in the coming days, and Minnesota’s Collin Peterson.
Those two, alongside Maine Rep. Jared Golden, voted nay to impeaching Trump for obstruction of Congress, though Golden did vote yay to impeaching the president for abuse of power.
However, there was one more vote from the Democrats’ side that raised eyebrows, and that was the vote of 2020 Democratic Presidential Candidate Tulsi Gabbard, who voted “present” on both articles. She was the only member of Congress to do so.
“After doing my due diligence in reviewing the 658-page impeachment report, I came to the conclusion that I could not in good conscience vote either yes or no,” Gabbard said after casting her vote, according to NBC News.
She insisted that while she thought that the president is guilty of wrongdoing, she could not, in good conscience, vote for his impeachment “because removal of a sitting president must not be the culmination of a partisan process, fueled by tribal animosities that have so gravely divided our country.”
And while that might be her reasoning, it is safe to say that Gabbard has once again drawn scrutiny, having been criticized in the past for cozying up to the right.
During the fifth round of the 2020 Democratic presidential debates, then-candidate Sen. Kamala Harris took Gabbard to task for her frequent Fox News appearances, as well as her criticism of the Democratic party.
“I think it’s unfortunate that we have someone on this stage who is attempting to be the Democratic nominee for president of the United States who during the Obama administration spent four years fulltime on Fox News criticizing President Obama,” Harris said at the time, during the November debate. “Who has spent fulltime criticizing people on this stage and is affiliated with the Democratic party and who when Donald Trump was elected, not even sworn in, buddied up with Steve Bannon to get a meeting with Donald Trump in the Trump Tower.”
And who could forget back in October when former Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton suggested that Republicans were grooming Gabbard for a third-party run, noting that Gabbard is “the favorite of the Russians.”
It didn’t take long for social media issues to take issue with Gabbard’s vote, quickly causing the legislator to trend on Twitter.
I always hated the kids in class who said “present” instead of “here.” So annoying.
— Jemele Hill (@jemelehill) December 19, 2019
There are LOTS of reasons why Tulsi Gabbard is unqualified to be president, but voting “present” tonight should be the icing on the cake.With her wack ass.
— loryn wilson carter (@ElleWCarter) December 19, 2019
(Hillary was right about Tulsi Gabbard)
— Topher Spiro (@TopherSpiro) December 19, 2019
Let the moment Tulsi Gabbard voted “present” on an historic impeachment hearing be the last time we ever seriously consider her to be a leader.
— Alex Whitcomb (@AlexWhitcomb) December 19, 2019
Tulsi Gabbard: “Present… … ly working on getting a gig at Fox News holllaaaaaa!”
— kevinbiegel (@kbiegel) December 19, 2019
Tulsi Gabbard is getting a lot of criticism tonight, but I personally think it’s courageous to see a Republican refuse to vote against impeachment.#ImpeachmentDay
— Charlotte Clymer
(@cmclymer) December 19, 2019
“When things got tough, I showed up. Literally. I was physically in attendance.” – Tulsi Gabbard to her future grandchildren
— Jason Kander (@JasonKander) December 19, 2019
I don’t think Tulsi Gabbard’s morally vacuous #impeachmentvote was stupid. I think it was strategic. She’s being propped up by the far-right, and she doesn’t want to lose that support. She has a primary to sabotage, after all. https://t.co/vVz36zm9fk
— Caroline Orr (@RVAwonk) December 19, 2019
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